1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to harvesting reels used on haying equipment, such as mower/conditioners and windrowers and, more particularly, relates to an improved, easily replaceable bearing assembly used at a number of locations on such reels to journal the tine bars of the reel for cam-operated oscillation during operation of the reel.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Hay harvesting machines variously known as mower/conditioners and windrowers have typically utilized rotary reels on the header of such machines to sweep through the standing crop as the machine advances and help place it in proper, fully upstanding position for severance by a reciprocating sickle or other cutter means below the reel. Finger-like tines of the reel comb through the standing crop to facilitate the presentation of the crop to the sickle and to then sweep the severed materials rearwardly into conditioner rolls or augers.
Such tines are typically arranged in rows that extend the width of the header and that are spaced circumferentially about the periphery of the reel. Each row of the tines is carried by a common tine bar or tube that is journaled by supporting framework of the reel for oscillating movement about the longitudinal axis of the tine bar as the wheel rotates. A cam at the end of the reel causes the oscillatory movement of the tine bars whereby to position the tines in their most advantageous angular attitudes as they sweep into the crop and then rearwardly up and through the severed material. Generally speaking, the tines project out radially from the axis of rotation of the reel as they sweep downwardly into the standing crop material at the front of the reel and thence back across the sickle, but then the tines are rocked downwardly and rearwardly out of their radial attitudes to lift or strip out of the materials in a generally vertical direction on the upsweep side of the reel so as to cleanly release the severed crop materials.
The reel framework is provided with bearing assemblies that journal the tine bars for oscillation. From time-to-time such bearings wear out and must be replaced. In prior arrangements, replacement of even one of the bearings along the length of a tine bar required complete removal of the entire tine bar from the reel and disassembly of all of the tines themselves from the bar so as to permit the worn, cylindrical housing for the bearing to be unbolted from the frame and slipped down along the length of the bar and off the end. Replacement housings then needed to be correspondingly slipped onto the end of the tine bar and moved along its length, whereupon the tines themselves were then reattached to the bar to place the assembly back in operating condition.
Although prior bearing assemblies have utilized a nylon or plastic collar which, because of a slit in its periphery, could be spread apart and transversely snapped onto the tine bar or removed therefrom with relative ease, such plastic collar rotated within the metal bearing housing and, as a consequence, frequently wore the housing itself in addition to the plastic collar. Accordingly, replacement of the collar alone was not adequate since a significant amount of wear would also be incurred by the housing, necessitating the complete disassembling of the tine bar and removal from the reel, notwithstanding the easy replaceability of the spreadable bearing collar itself.